Påskkärringar
by The Tox
Summary: A silly little story where Sealand teaches England about his dad's unique easter tradition; påskkärringar, or as you say in English; Easter hags. Glad Påsk!


The door bell rang so England had to put down his embroidery momentarily, much to his annoyance. Who was it this time?

"Yes?" he asked, trying to sound nice, as he opened the door. He had to blink twice to recognize the two people standing before him.

It was definitely Sealand, he concluded finally, and his shaky friend Latvia behind him. But they were dressed so weirdly… Both in long skirts with scarves over their shoulders and veils in their hair. For some reason their cheeks were painted red and they had black fake freckles over their faces. Both were also carrying tea pots.

"What nonsense is this, Sealand?" he asked and sighed. Sweden and Finland seemed to be such reasonable parents, why did they let their adopted son dress in drag?

"It's not nonsense, jerk England!" Sealand protested and he picked up a little handmade card from the tea pot, which he pushed into England's face. "It's Easter. Happy Easter!" England snapped the card from Sealand's hands and studied it. It had a painted chicken on it along with the words "Glad Påsk" which he figured was Swedish, and the card had gold glitter sprinted across it. It wasn't much of an artwork.

After having looked at the card England dropped it back into Sealand's tea pot again.

"Hey! You're supposed to give us candy!" Sealand said angrily.

"Why?"

"It's tradition! My dad told me about it."

"It might be some weird Scandinavian thing but I am not going to give you candy because you decided to copy Poland's fashion sense. Now run along." He really did not want to bother with Sealand or weird Swedish traditions but Sealand was not someone who took kindly to being talked down to.

"You jerk! Stupid selfish jerk!" Sealand called after him before he could close the door. "I want candy!"

"Uhm, maybe we should leave?" Latvia kindly inquiered. "I-I am sorry for bothering you, Mr. England."

England sighed; he couldn't really turn down Latvia, could he? That boy always looked close to collapsing, and was perfectly well-behaved. Unlike a certain someone…

"I might have some candy", he said finally and opened the door wider. "But I still fail to see why I should give you some."

"Because it's tradition!"

"It's tradition to dress in drag and beg for candy?" England supposed it was some sort of trick-or-treat routine, and he wasn't particularity fond of that blasted _American_ tradition either.

"Yes", Sealand insisted. "We're Easter hags."

"… you're what?"

"Uhm, like, witches", Latvia explained. "Easter witches."

"But dad calls them hags in Swedish", Sealand interrupted. "And we're not begging for candy", he said and turned to England again, with a scowl. "I gave you a nice card I made. So you should give me candy!"

While England failed to see how this was not begging, at least he wouldn't get his house TP'd, so he guessed it was at least somewhat better than Halloween. He was again getting the card shoved into his face however, but this time he grabbed it and took it inside in his search for candy.

After a while he had gave the boys some pear drops and Cadbury Wispa bars, and he couldn't help but feel rather good about himself when Sealand's face shone up at the sight of the candy dropping down into his tea pot. Latvia also looked very happy, which was rare in England's opinion.

"So, why do you do this anyway?" he asked before the boys left, leaning against his door frame.

"Because it's tradition-"

"Oh shut it, that's not what I meant. Why is it tradition?"

"Uh, something like… In the 17th century witches were believed to fly to a place called _Blåkulla_ where they have a feast with the devil. And they eat sweets and children", Sealand explained, clearly a bit puzzled about the minor details. "My dad said so, anyway. And children get candy for dressing up as witches today."

Made as much sense as anything, England guessed. Having lived for so many centuries he knew how traditions came to be and evolved over time. He found traditions to be rather sweet after all, and liked it when people tried to keep them alive. Even if they only did it for the sake of sweets.

After ending his short summary of the tradition Sealand left with one last "Happy Easter, jerk England!" followed by Latvia's more shaky "Th-thank you for the candy Mr. England."

With those wards of parting the "Easter hags" left for their next destination; for more candy.

The End


End file.
